The purpose of this grant is to provide financial support to the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) to host one Special Symposium and five short courses at its 2005 Annual Meeting to be held in San Francisco, CA, between October 21-24, 2005. The SMDM is a professional society of physicians from multiple specialties, nurses, academics from disciplines such as mathematics, economics, public health, health policy, decision analysis and engineering, as well as members from the federal, state, and private sectors who dedicate their work to promoting rational and systematic approaches to improving individual and public health, and informing societal health policy. The Special Symposium is titled "Translating Research into Practice: Setting a Research Agenda for Clinical Decision Tools in Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment," and the purpose is to bring 4 experts in cancer decision tools together to debate which direction federally-funded research should take in order to support improvement in cancer-related decision making processes and outcomes. The five short courses will provide opportunities for meeting attendees to learn more about some of the underlying theory and practical components of patient decision tools. The 2005 SMDM Annual Meeting is open, and anyone can register to attend.